We All Need a Little Mystery
A good friend of mine writes cozy mysteries, and when she first started reading my fantasies (novels, not the other kind) she remarked that she’d never be able to make up an entire world like I did. I found it incredible that she could write in the “real world” and not have the luxury of making stuff up when she needed it. Two totally different writers approaching their stories from two totally different perspectives, but what we both agreed on, was that all stories need a sense of wonder. Without mystery, stories just weren’t any fun.
I’ll read just about any genre out there, but I’ve always been drawn to science fiction and fantasy when I write. I think it’s the wonder that draws me in. Not only do I get to follow the plot mystery (how will this turn out?), but I get to create a world with its own mysteries and complexities. Every time I turn a corner, something new and amazing has to be figured out.
How do these people make a living? How did this culture evolve? Where did this magic come from? When did these problems begin? Each world-building exercise is a mystery to be solved for me, and figuring out that mystery is as much fun as writing the actual story. But it doesn’t just end with what I write. These are also questions that fill my mind as I read or watch a story, regardless of what genre.
Any time a story can surprise me it’s a win. Surprising a writer is hard work, because we plot all the time and can usually spot a twist coming a mile away. But when it happens, it’s such a thrill, and I enjoy the story all the more because it took me someplace new and unexpected. It’s the little joys I remember.
Better still, is when you’re not sure how all the pieces fit together, but you start figuring the plot out and seeing the truth under the misdirection. You have to know what happens next because you need to know if you’re right. Were you smart enough to solve those puzzles? Were you really one step ahead or did they fool you, too? Figuring out the twist of a movie to TV show before my husband is a major victory at my house, and one I revel in when it happens.
It’s even better when it happens in my own work.
I outline my novels, but I never plan how my characters are going to achieve the goals I’ve set for them. It would spoil the mystery to know how they were going to solve this delicious puzzle I’ve concocted. I write myself into corners (not recommended unless you enjoy a challenge and a bit of hair ripping) and put my characters into situations that take me days to find a way out of. The moment when the solution comes to me is one of the best in world.
Because I’ve solved the mystery.
And with luck, my readers will wonder what on earth can happen next because that’s what I felt as I was writing it. If I had no clue how to get out of things, it should be just as unpredictable for my readers. Maintaining that sense of wonder keeps the wonder going. It keeps the mystery alive.
And who doesn’t love a good mystery?
Blue Fire Blurb
Part fugitive, part hero, fifteen-year-old Nya is barely staying ahead of the Duke of Baseer’s trackers. Wanted for a crime she didn’t mean to commit, she risks capture to protect every Taker she can find, determined to prevent the Duke from using them in his fiendish experiments. But resolve isn’t enough to protect any of them, and Nya soon realizes that the only way to keep them all out of the Duke’s clutches is to flee Geveg. Unfortunately, the Duke’s best tracker has other ideas.
Nya finds herself trapped in the last place she ever wanted to be, forced to trust the last people she ever thought she could. More is at stake than just the people of Geveg, and the closer she gets to uncovering the Duke’s plan, the more she discovers how critical she is to his victory. To save Geveg, she just might have to save Baseer—if she doesn’t destroy it first.
Janice Hardy Bio
A long-time fantasy reader, Janice Hardy always wondered about the darker side of healing. For her fantasy trilogy THE HEALING WARS, she tapped into her own dark side to create a world where healing was dangerous, and those with the best intentions often made the worst choices. Her books include THE SHIFTER, and BLUE FIRE from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. She lives in Georgia with her husband, three cats and one very nervous freshwater eel.
Link to Blue Fire Online Retailers
http://www.harpercollins.com/book/pre-order.aspx?isbn13=9780061747410
Website
www.janicehardy.com
The Other Side of the Story Blog
http://storyflip.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Introducing Guest Blogger - Janice Hardy!
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8 comments:
Love your comments, Janice! I write like you do in that I have a general plot and some characters but all the good stuff happens when I'm writing - peeling the layers off the story to expose what's beneath. I think that's the beauty of the creative process.
LOL on the eel!
Thanks for being a guest at Killer Fiction!
Thanks for having me over! Half the fun is seeing where the story will go, and that's a mystery, too, right?
Janice,
I love it when a book takes me to a place I didn't think I'd go and yet I don't feel jarred or cheated. Like you, I read across a lot of genres.
Thanks for visiting with us at KF.
CC
haha - I love the idea of writing yourself into a corner. I kind of did that with my opening scene and the way I pulled my characters out of it built up the whole story. Highly recommended!
I worried my editor once that way. I mentioned "I'll figure that out when I get there" and she warned me about writing myself into a corner. But I told her it was my natural process and she laughed. It's a great technique, but it can make you want to pull your hair out sometimes.
I love to be surprised. I too read all genres but I started out reading horror/scify and paranormals seem to be just right. I am always amazed when an author comes up with a great ending.
Those corners are nuts - it's like driving a bumper car that's bumping back and forth with no way out until something comes along and knocks you back on track. But the fun is never knowing where the hit will come from and where it will send you.
They can be. They either force you into the perfect solution you'd never have thought up otherwise, or make you bang your head against the keyboard until you realize you need to adjust *something* to get the heck out of there.
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